Back to School – How to Plan the Perfect Carpool Ride

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it, too? With a good carpool in place, you can save time and money. It just takes a little bit of planning and a willingness to flow with whatever the morning gives you. Here are five tips to help your carpool get off without a hitch.

Safety First

Safety should be your number one priority. Make sure your child knows which adult is driving each day and stress the importance of only getting into the designated adult’s car. If you need to make an adjustment during the day, call the school and have an administrator inform your child of the change.

Closeness Is Key

Choose families who live nearby. A quick and efficient carpool is the best kind. There’s no use driving to the other side of town when there are families to carpool with closer by,

Rules and Regulations

Set clear rules and guidelines for the children’s time in the car. Do you allow eating or drinking? Who gets to choose the music? Rules don’t have to be restrictive – maybe a different child gets to choose a song every day – but having them in place will help ensure that no one’s feelings get hurt, including yours.

In Case of Emergency

Get together with the other parents and put together an emergency contact list. Emergencies do happen from time to time and preparation is the best defense. Include names and phone numbers of physicians and any nearby relatives or contacts for the parent to get in touch with in case you can’t be reached.

Punctuality

Punctuality is a trait that will serve your child well deep into his or her adult life. What better time to instil this valuable virtue than on those stressful mornings when you’re forced to cram more work into an hour than most people do in an entire day. For every morning that you’re child makes it out to the car on-time, you’ll know that, even if it’s just for the briefest moment, everything is right in the world.